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Bytes and Bullets

Global Rivalries, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare
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Bytes and Bullets

By: Steve Feldstein
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About this listen

 When it comes to global dominance, military technology has always been a major geopolitical driver. For decades, the West set the rules on innovation using soft power and government funding to develop its own exclusive cutting-edge defensive capabilities. But in the digital era, the breakthroughs - be it AI systems and autonomous drones, satellite internet or advanced semiconductors - are coming from private companies, not government labs.

In Bytes and Bullets, Steve Feldstein explains how technology is transforming geopolitics, upending the ways that countries compete, and how they wage war. Through captivating stories and original field research, he shows how the West's dominance is being undercut at every turn by a combination of commercialization, authoritarian convergence led by China and Russia, and the emergence of new regional powers hungry for more influence.

A new tech cold war is coming into focus fast and restrictions and sanctions are no longer enough to maintain international stability. Feldstein reports from its front line in this rich and at times alarming account of this pivotal moment in history, making an urgent call for the West to act now, or risk losing its international standing forever.©2026 Steve Feldstein Engineering Military Politics & Government

Critic reviews

'The placid reveries of these last few decades are about to be shattered by a new era of global conflict-one defined by a profusion of technologies even their creators don't fully understand. Steve Feldstein is among the guides I trust most in this uncertain landscape. He's the rare analyst with the breadth of knowledge, variety of experience, and clarity of vision to help the rest of us navigate the furious change that awaits.'
(Josh Chin)
'Steve Feldstein is a leading authority on the intersection of technology and governance. While tech is reshaping power in ways we barely understand, Steve's work cuts through the noise to highlight what we need to know. His work on digital repression and global politics challenges conventional thinking and offers new perspectives on critical issues.' (Dr. Seva Gunitsky)
'We hear a great deal about weaponized interdependence and the technological arms race, but this desperately needs to be corralled together into an accessible book with a coherent central thesis. Steve Feldstein is a seriously talented and clear-headed thinker and he is the right man-given his connections, access and expertise-to write it.' (Dr Matthew Ford)
'Steve Feldstein is one of the world's foremost experts on democracy, war, and the digital revolution. In this urgent and incisive book, he weaves together cutting-edge research with a sophisticated understanding of the forces reshaping international politics. At once timely and destined to become an obligatory reference, it is essential reading for anyone seeking to make sense of the new world taking shape around us.' (Moises Naim)
'We hear a great deal about weaponized interdependence and the technological arms race, but this desperately needs to be corralled together into an accessible book with a coherent central thesis. Steve Feldstein is a seriously talented and clear-headed thinker and he is the right man-given his connections, access and expertise-to write it.'
(Dr Matthew Ford)
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